Portable Oral Care Kit

ABSTRACT

A self-contained portable oral care kit comprising: a non-hollow toothbrush (or other implement), vessel, and liquid (or other substance) stored within the vessel to allow for the quick brushing of teeth, gums and/or tongue on the go.

BACKGROUND Field of the Invention

The present invention is directed to help a user to practice oral careon the go—the invention comprising a cap with attached toothbrushinserted into a portable vessel which contains a liquid (for example,anti-cavity mouthwash) or other beneficial substance in liquid or otherform.

A number of patents have been filed with respect to storing and cleaningtoothbrushes between brushings such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,566,823;5,690,214; 6,135,279; 6,213,777; 6,260,884 and 6,966,441. Additionally,there have been suggestions put forth regarding portable hollowtoothbrushes that dispense toothpaste—the most recent being: U.S. Pat.No. D421,679. However, these devices are either bulky toothbrush holdersthat allow for disinfecting between uses at home or are travel brushesthat do not disinfect nor provide for brushing without additional liquidbeing required. The present invention addresses the need for aconvenient-to-carry on-the-go solution which may be quickly opened,utilized and stored away again.

SUMMARY

The present invention allows the user to carry the oral care kit in apocket, purse, hand, travel bag or otherwise.

Additionally, it allows for the storing of a beneficial liquid or othersubstance (gel, powder, paste or other substance) in the vessel alongwith the portable toothbrush that will allow him/her to brush his teethat a moment s notice quickly and for user's teeth/gums/mouth to benefitfrom such teeth brushing via the use of stored substance (such as awhitening, antiseptic and/or anticavity mouthwash or other substance notlisted here). While it is recommended that people brush their teethtwice a day, at certain times one may want to brush their teeth orfreshen up their breath while traveling or on a date, and not want tocarry their toothbrush, paste and other implements along with them.Additionally, while we typically use toothpaste when brushing,toothpaste in not particularly necessary if there is some lubrication,such as mouthwash, available. In short, to use the proposed devise, theuser would for example (herein provided for illustrative purposes only):shake the vessel which is partially filled with liquid/substance beforeuse (if necessary), remove cap with attached brush, brush teeth, rinsebrush if feasible and insert back into vessel.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

FIG. 1 is a frontal view of the portable vessel with a half-sizetoothbrush, in upright orientation (toothbrush of which is attached tothe cap for easy extraction) with liquid. The vessel is tubular with aflat edge on the end opposite the cap.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the portable vessel with toothbrushinserted. The inner circle is the hinge cap.

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the portable vessel with toothbrushinserted.

FIG. 4 is a view of the parts of the invention when disassembled,comprising: the bottle, cap, toothbrush, screw cap, o-ring, and screw.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

As you can see in the above drawings (FIG. 1-3), a portable toothbrushis stored in a vessel that allows for the storage of liquid or othersubstance. The vessel can stand upright.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The toothbrush comprises a fall-size, half-length non-hollow toothbrush,mini or other-sized toothbrush, or other implement (such as a tonguescrapping device), that slides easily into a portable vessel. The vesselpictured here is what would be considered travel-size, but otherembodiments may be bigger or smaller, wider or thinner, and still fallwithin this spec.

The curved toothbrush pictured here is attached to a screw cap with ahinged top by means of a stainless steel screw (hidden by the hingedtop), and the screw cap fits the vessel allowing for the insertion andextraction of the brush (or other implement) from the vessel easily andquickly. Other methods of attaching the brush to the lid may be used(such as, but is not limited to, heat welding adhesive/molding the partsas one piece, etc.).

The cap is such that it is adhered to the vessel to securely store andnot allow leakage of the liquid (or other substance) from the vessel. Inthis case, a screw cap was used; however, another mechanism may besubstituted such as, but is not limited to, a snap cap, flip cap, pushand turn cap, etc. Additionally, the cap here is a plain and simple one,however, different embodiments of the cap could incorporate an extendedhandle more or less ornamental, more or less practical, may betaller/shorter, or different in size, shape, or other characteristic,come with or without the hinged cap, and still fall within this spec.The cap could also be modified to be a larger cap with a storage space,for example, that could incorporate the storage of an additionalsubstance such as, but not limited to, paste or floss under a largerhinged cap or other modification. A top cap may also be used—to hide ahinge cap—and this approach would also fall within the boundaries ofthis spec.

The base is such that it has a flat edge allowing it to stand forconvenience sake. But it also could be amended to include an additionalstorage space for a substance such as, but not limited to, floss orpaste. Any such embodiments/modifications would fall within this spec.

The substance stored within the invention comprises a liquid, such as,but not limited to: water, a whitener, antiseptic, anti-cavity,anti-tartar, or anti-halitosis mouthwash, medicine, or other solution(whether over-the-counter or prescribed), or may be another substance inanother form such as a gel, paste, powder or a combination thereof, oranother substance not yet identified. Any such embodiments/modificationswould fall within this spec.

The vessel pictured comprises one that is entirely transparent, but maybe partially or fully transparent, partially or fully translucent orfully or partially opaque. The vessel may be a standard one (picturedhere) but may also comprise an ornamental or novelty or discreetdesign/shape (for example, comprise a design that would hide the natureof the contents altogether such as making it look like a lipstick casingor a moisturizer vessel). Any such embodiments/modifications would fallwithin this spec.

The device stands upright so that the liquid remains inside, but may bedesigned to stand otherwise, and may be carried “as is” or carried inanother manner (such as, but not limited to, attached to a rope, cord,chain or object, and included in a care kit bag, or other manner notspecified here). Any such embodiments or modifications would fall withinthis spec.

The toothbrush, cap and vessel are plastic in this case; however, othermaterials may be substituted. Any such embodiments or modificationswould fall within this spec.

The toothbrush bristles are nylon in this case; however, other materialmay be substituted. Any such embodiments or modifications would fallwithin this spec.

A curved toothbrush and vessel are used here, but other straight,contoured, curved, angled or novelty shapes may be substituted. Any suchembodiments or modifications would fall within this spec.

Rubber grips or areas are not included in this particular design but maybe included. Any such embodiment or modification would fall within thisspec.

The shape, coloring and type of toothbrush (and other parts) used hereare typical; however, the shape, material, coloring or other facet of it(of them) may be amended and still be considered within the specs ofthis design.

The invention's proposed used is for a quick brushing of teeth, gums,and/or tongue on the go, however, the invention may also be used forother purposes (such as, but not limited to: the administering ofdental/gum/tongue medicine, the whitening of teeth, administeringmedicine to other parts of the inner mouth by use of the brush or amodified version of the brush or other implement, etc.). The purposesmay extend beyond what is stated here, however, all such uses would fallwithin this spec.

1. An oral care kit comprising: a) a portable non-hollow toothbrush (orother implement) attached to a cap b) a vessel onto which the above capsits/fits, such that leakage from the vessel is prevented c) a liquid orother substance, that is stored within the vessel along with thetoothbrush